Councillors Catherine Deakin and Rosalind Dore will stand for Labour in Broxbourne and in Epping Forest, reports Marco Marcelline
Two Waltham Forest cabinet members are set to stand as Labour Party candidates in the upcoming general election.
Catherine Deakin, St James ward councillor, will stand for election in Conservative Party safe seat Broxbourne, while Rosalind Dore, councillor for Hale End and Highams Park South, is also seeking to unseat the Tories in Epping Forest.
Cllr Dore was announced as Labour’s candidate today (13th March). The cabinet member for culture is looking to take Eleanor Laing’s seat, who has served as Epping Forest MP since 1997. The MP and deputy speaker of the House of Commons has a 22,173 majority. Outside of politics, Cllr Dore works as a stage manager.
Reform UK’s Peter Bell is the only candidate who has been announced to stand in Epping Forest.
Meanwhile, Cllr Deakin, who also serves as cabinet commissioner for health equity, said she was “honoured” to be picked on 4th March. The charity executive has already launched a website dedicated to her election efforts.
An introduction on her site reads: “The daughter of a bricklayer, a Labour government changed my life. I want to see the same for families here in Broxbourne.”
She goes on to describe Broxbourne as being a “very special place”, given that both her parents and grandparents are from the area.
Her stated list of priorities if elected as MP include “tackling the cost of living crisis”, “making Broxbourne safer”, “championing jobs and industry”, “safe, secure and affordable” homes, and “more investment” in the NHS.
The seat has been held since 2005 by Charles Walker. Seen as a safe Tory seat, Walker won a 19,807 majority at the 2019 general election. In January 2022, he announced his intention to step aside at the next election, stating that there was “a lot of grief and pain” in the country which had meant politics had become a “pretty toxic environment”.
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So far the only two other candidates announced for the seat are the Conservative Party’s Lewis Cocking, who leads Broxbourne Council, and the Green Party’s Owen Brett. Cllr Cocking beat Waltham Forest Conservative leader Emma Best who was shortlisted for candidacy in Broxbourne.
Already kicking off her electioneering, Cllr Deakin today published a letter addressed to her Conservative competitor calling on him to not accept any funding from Conservative Party donor Frank Hester due to offensive comments he reportedly made about Hackney and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott.
According to a Guardian report, the business executive had said the long-standing parliamentarian “should be shot” and that seeing her on the TV makes “you want to hate all black women”.
In her letter to Cllr Cocking, the prospective Broxbourne candidate wrote: “Accepting and using [Frank Hester’s] money can only be seen as implicitly condoning his deeply disturbing racist comments. Will you take responsibility and turn down this support?”
Responding to Cllr Deakin’s and Cllr Dore’s candidacy announcements, Waltham Forest Labour leader Grace Williams said: “It is testament to the talent and dedication of our Labour Councillors that both Catherine and Ros have been selected as Labour Parliamentary candidates.
Both Ros and Catherine are extremely hard-working councillors, committed to serving residents in their wards and I know they will apply their experience and skills to their campaigns. They will be continuing to fulfil their duties in Waltham Forest, whilst campaigning in nearby constituencies. I want to thank both of them for their ongoing work on behalf of residents in Waltham Forest. I wish each of them the best of luck and look forward to campaigning with them.’
Asked how the selections would impact on their responsibilities as councillors, Cllr Williams said: “Having councillors stand for Parliament enriches, rather than detracts from the quality of political life in Waltham Forest.”
The news comes not long after another Waltham Forest councillor and cabinet member fought for a seat in Parliament. Alistair Strathern, former Higham Hill ward representative, resigned from his duties in September in order to focus on his bid to take former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries’ empty seat.
Successful in his election bid, Strathern overturned a majority of 24,664 to take the seat for Labour. In January, he announced his intention to contest the neighbouring Hitchin constituency which will mainly be based in Hertfordshire rather than Bedfordshire.
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